NIMASA’s Deputy Director, Internal Audit, Mr. Samuel Ajayi (third right) presents some of the safety items to the Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin during the visit to the authority’s office in Lagos, Friday.

In line with its safety and environmental management mandate, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, has joined the Cleaner Lagos Initiative campaign, as it donates several safety kits and waste management equipment to the Lagos State Waste Management Authority LAWMA. This is also to boost the government’s efforts at keeping Nigeria’s commercial capital city clean.

The equipment and safety items include 1000 branded coveralls, 1000 pieces of traffic cones, as well as 1000 nose masks.

Speaking at the official presentation of the items to the management of LAWMA in Lagos, Friday, NIMASA’s Director, Internal Audit, Mrs. Olamide Odunsanya, said that the decision of the agency to present the items to the LAWMA management was also in line with the agency’s robust Corporate Social Responsibility CSR support system, through which it has reached out to several organisations and communities nationwide.

Represented by the Deputy Director, Internal Audit, Samuel Muyiwa, Mrs. Odusanya disclosed that the agency’s CSR programmes, which are basically environmentally- based, are designed on the basis of the need and peculiarity of the Nigerian people, and are also aimed at affecting the society positively. She further argued that these programmes and interventions are borne out of the understanding and belief that only cleaner environments will translate into cleaner oceans in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SGDs.

According to her, the current Director General of the agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh OFR, has carved a niche for himself as a maritime administrator who believes, not only in enforcement, but also promotion of safety and security, peace, and progress in the maritime domain.

She argued that the DG’s three-point agenda of Maritime Safety, Maritime Security, and Shipping Development; also called Tipple S Strategy has been pursued through a multidimensional approach involving networking, sharing experiences, and learning from stakeholders.          

“I must say that I am most delighted and proud to be associated with the management of LAWMA through this august visit. We are here to touch base with fellow citizens and contemporaries. We are here to share in the plight of the Government of Lagos State, and to offer glad tidings from the management and the entire members of staff of NIMASA. 

“We are on a mission, a mission driven by the complexity and peculiarity of governance.  We are reaching out and supporting government and Lagosians in the face of daunting socio-economic circumstances that often beat government’s official planning, and require extra-governmental measures and intervention from socially responsible organisations and well-meaning individuals. 

“NIMASA understands and appreciates that government as a system cannot function and achieve anything alone. It needs the contribution and support of all to make the society a better place for the citizenry. This is why we want to raise awareness about the dire need to keep Lagos clean, to provoke society’s attention at the levels of government, organisations, and individuals to the need to continually ensure a healthy environment.

“At NIMASA, we have an integrated support system in place, which is in the form of care for the environment– part of the cardinal points of the Agency. This is essentially driven through a nationwide CSR strategy, implemented from time to time, in line with our enabling appropriations and resources. The NIMASA CSR intervention programmes are spread across the country, and today we are here, and we appreciate the warm welcome from the management of LAWMA.

“Our CSR programmes are designed based on the need and peculiarity of our people, and it is aimed at affecting society positively. As a Federal Government agency, with the whole country as our prime constituency, we have an unwavering commitment to the social, economic, and environmental life of our people, and this is incorporated into our plans and activities.

“The agency’s environmental-oriented CSR programmes are a conscious drive, and this consciousness is affirmed in our understanding that a clean environment translates to a clean ocean, which is why supporting proper waste management within the physical environmental ecosystem is part of our policy thrust. This is also in line with the Federal Government’s development priorities and objectives, which focus on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global goals designed as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable environment for all”, the Internal Audit Director also said.

She further noted that the presentation of the items was a strategic demonstration of NIMASA’s commitment to a better environment for all Nigerians, adding that it was also in line with the agency’s efforts to support the government and the good people of Lagos State to complement government’s clean environment drive and agenda.

She said: “The goal and spirit of this intervention package are to identify with the physical environment’ challenges, support in creating solutions, and offer inspiration, and we urge you to receive the gifts in the spirit in which they are given. The idea is to find a way to connect more closely and bond with our operating environment and stakeholders as we pursue the Agency’s vision, mission and core mandates of maritime regulation and promotion. 

“NIMASA recognises that connection with the people plays an essential role in all aspects of development. The agency, therefore, works with communities and government at different levels to carry out interventions that help in ensuring environmental sustainability. And we hope that you will find these items useful in your drive to sustain the momentum towards ensuring a clean Lagos State.”

Meanwhile, Managing Director of LAWMA, Mr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin, who led other top management of the authority to receive the NIMASA, expressed appreciation to the agency for bringing in LAWMA into its CSR programme.

According to him, as Nigeria’s Maritime Administration, NIMASA’s activities spread not only in the country but also across the globe, which makes the gesture to the LAWMA quite strategic and highly appreciated.

Gbadegesin however noted at as an agency whose responsibility partly covers environmental management has shared objectives with the LAWMA, especially in terms of maintaining the cleanliness of oceans and waterway, adding that some of the plastic wastes generated on land still find their way into the oceans.

He thanked the management of NIMASA for the kind gesture, saying that there was need for more collaborative efforts between both organisation in line with the initiative to rid the city of wastes. He also pledged that the items would be optimally deployed for the benefit of the Nigerian nation and its people.